From The Moment When I Saw Her First
by JemmaaaFitzy
Summary: High School AU. Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons are both transfer students to America, they meet at the back of a science class and get talking, and agree that they should learn the ropes of the new school together. They start developing feelings for each other and things advance from there.
1. Chapter 1

New school. New country. New people. It was the last thing that Jemma wanted. Her father had taken a new job that required the whole family to go to America and Jemma was probably the only British person there. At least there was nothing different about science. That was always a good thing.

She made her way to her science class and sat at the back of the room in an empty seat as other students walked in and took their seats. At first she thought that she was going to be sat completely alone, until a boy that looked about as lost and as awkward as her walked in and took the seat next to her.

The lesson started and Jemma was writing down notes as the teacher spoke, but she could feel the boy's eyes on her paper which annoyed her a little.

"Look, if you need notes why not pay attention and stop stealing my notes!" She spoke, not even looking to him.

"S-sorry. I just couldn't keep up." The boy replied, in an accent that wasn't American. It was Scottish, and then Jemma understood that he might not be finding that the American accent was too fast and that he was probably new here as well.

"It's okay. Hey, I know that the teacher is speaking a little fast so take the notes that you need." Jemma told him with a smile.

"Are you sure?" He asked a little cautious.

"Of course. I honestly don't mind at all, just ask me next time."

"Thanks." He smiled at her and wrote down the notes that he needed.

"What's your name?"

"Leo Fitz. What's yours?"

"Jemma Simmons. It's nice to meet you, and it's nice to actually know someone that's from the same country. I thought that I was the only one."

"Well, my parents thought that it would be better to move here. I don't know why." He shrugged. "I think they want me to go to a college over here because they're better apparently."

"My dad got a job offer and he accepted. My mum was all for it, but me and my brother didn't get a choice."

"Well, do you know anyone here yet?"

"No. It's just me so far."

"Maybe, we could hang out at lunch and break times you know? Learn the ropes together."

"I'd like that. It sounds like a fun idea." She nodded and smiled, going back to writing her notes, until the lesson ended and the bell rang to signify lunchtime. The pair stood up and collected up their books and pens, at one point their hands touched and Jemma tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, something that she always did when she was a little nervous. They walked out together and went to find somewhere to sit, eventually finding a place out on the field.

"So, what kind of things do you like Jemma?" Fitz asked, sitting down next to her.

"Well, I love science and I guess you can say that I'm a bit of a geek." She shrugged a little.

"What do you mean geek?"

"I mean the type of girl that likes things like Star Wars."

"Oh, well you have good taste in movies." He smiled.

"Well, that's what happens when you grow up with a brother." She shrugged a little and went through her bag to find her lunch.

"Oh wow Mum, you packed two of these sandwiches. I made one for myself and one for my brother." She shook her head a little and looked to Fitz. "Wanna try it? It's prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella with just a hint of my homemade pesto aioli." She told him and held out the sandwich.

"I'll give it a try." He answered taking the sandwich and taking a bite out of it.

"Wow. This is amazing! This is the best sandwich that I've ever tasted." He smiled at her.

"Well, thanks." Jemma answered. "You're sweet to think so, but I don't think that it's the best sandwich in the world."

"You know if we're going to be friends, then you're going to have to make me these all the time." He joked.

"So you want to be friends?" Jemma asked with a smile.

"Of course I do. You're nice and we already get on really well, plus we're both really into science." He gave a small shrug.

"Yeah, I think that we'll be really good friends." Jemma nodded. "I'm glad that my first friend I made here was you. It's nice to be able to have someone that hasn't got an American accent because I'm still getting used to hearing it." She shrugged a little.

"I know what you mean." He agreed.

The pair went on talking for the rest of the lunch break, talking about science, their families and T.V shows and movies that they were both into. Even having a debate on whether or not Anakin was doing the right thing to join the dark side or not. Fitz thinking that he was wrong and Simmons thinking that he was right.


	2. Chapter 2

Fitz and Simmons, or Leo and Jemma had known each other for a few months now and they had spent nearly everyday together since they had met, which is why they had planned to go out with a picnic so they could watch a meteor shower together. He showed up at her house, with a picnic basket in his hand and a blanket. She smiled when she saw him and walked out of the house, closing the door behind her. They walked together up to the top of a hill in the park at the end of her road.

"What food did you pack?" She asked him.

"I have chocolate coated strawberries."

"Anything else?"

"No, I didn't have much for a picnic."

"Oh Fitz." She laughed and shook her head as he laid out the blanket for the two of them, they had taken to calling each other by their last names, mostly because Fitz hated his name although he did occasionally call her Jemma.

"When is this meteor shower supposed to happen?" He asked her.

"In a couple of hours." She answered, sitting down on the blanket with Fitz sitting next to her.

"So we still have time to just sit and eat the strawberries."

"Yes, strawberries." She nodded laughing again and took one of the strawberries.

He smiled at the sound of her laughter and took one of the strawberries for himself looking up at the night sky filled with thousands upon thousands of stars.

"I love space, it's so vast and there are thousands of other galaxies out there just begging to be explored, all those planets and stars and who knows maybe there is life on Mars and all of the other planets." Jemma smiled, looking up to the stars as Fitz turned his gaze to her. He had noticed before that his best friend was pretty and he caught himself staring at her across a room sometimes. He loved the way that her hand felt in his when she dragged him down corridors. At first he had dismissed these feelings, but maybe he did like her in that way. Maybe he was falling in love with Jemma Simmons.

She hadn't noticed that he was watching her, she didn't even do anything when he moved his hand over hers. She just continued to watch the stars and he continued to watch her. Every blink, every tug at the corner of her mouth when she smiled. Every breath that she took.

"One day Fitz, we'll find a way for us to travel around space and see every star in the galaxy." She gave a sigh of content and lay back on the picnic blanket, her eyes still up to the skies.

"Jemma-" Fitz started but, had no idea how to finish, so he just made something up. "Strawberry?" He held one of the strawberries up.

"Sure." She leaned up, and let him feed the strawberry to her before lying back down and pulling him with her, resting her head by his shoulder and looking up at the night sky.

An hour passed and the meteor shower was about to start. Fitz looked over to Jemma, and was met with her curled up, eyes closed and sleeping. Her breathing was soft and slow and to him she looked perfect. He didn't want to wake her up, so he just let her sleep and watched her. The meteors had started to shower but both of them missed it. Jemma being asleep and Fitz just watching her, he could watch her forever. Eventually he became drowsy and couldn't keep his eyes open for much longer, his eyelids becoming heavy and slowly drooping. He let them close, his forehead rested against Jemma's as both of them slept, on a picnic basket up on a hill when they were meant to be watching a meteor shower. The picnic basket still by the blanket, with a couple of strawberries left.


	3. Chapter 3

All that Fitz could think about was Jemma, and all Jemma could think about was Fitz. He wasn't sure when he started thinking of her as more than a friend, but he knew that whenever he looked at her he always thought that she looked pretty and how much that he wanted to pull her close and kiss her, be with her. He wanted to be more than friends, but was too scared to tell her.

Jemma wasn't sure when Fitz had replaced all other things in her mind, she sometimes caught herself staring at him from across the room when they were in a class and had to snap herself out of it, she didn't want him to think that she was weird or creepy. She had a little more courage than Fitz did, but she had been waiting to tell him how she felt and she had waited for long enough. All she wanted to do was pull him to the side and tell him how she felt about him, only hoping that he felt the same way about her.

When the school day was over, they walked out together and normally they would catch the bus and get dropped home but, before he could even head to the bus she pulled him to the side of the school building.

"Jem, we're going to miss the bus what are you-" Fitz started.

"I just want to talk to you quickly." Jemma took a breath and looked up at him. "Fitz, we've been friends for a couple of months now and let's say that I really like you, but the way that I like you is more than a friend likes a friend. If you get what I'm saying..." She bit her lip and looked to the floor.

"Wow. Jemma, I-" Fitz blushed and scratched the back of his neck. "I- feel the same way about you, but I was too scared to say anything. Honestly if you hadn't said anything then I probably would never had told you." He looked at her and watched as her gaze travelled up to him.

"Fitz..." Jemma grinned and wrapped her arms around him.

"Does this make us-?"

"If you want to date then we can date." She nodded, the grin not leaving her face.

"I would love to date you." He looked at her as she pulled away and leaned close to her, just as the bus honked it's horn and they remembered that they had to catch it. Jemma grabbed his hand and tugged him over to the bus, just making it on and sitting down together, fingers intertwining with each other and her resting her head on his shoulder the whole journey home.

Once they were off the bus and only had a short walk home, they walked hand in hand to Jemma's house talking and laughing like nothing had changed, but this time not as best friends but, as boyfriend and girlfriend. It was like they had been dating the whole time, and the pair of them were more happy than they were before and once they got to Jemma's house, they hugged and he kissed her forehead.

"See you tomorrow, I'll text you." Fitz told her.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." She whispered and headed to her front door, letting herself in and grinning to herself heading up to her bedroom and lying back on her bed and giving a content sigh.

Fitz walked back to his house on his own the rest of the way and once he was in his house, he smiled to himself. He finally had the girl of his dreams. His best friend and he felt so lucky to have her feel the same way that he felt about her. It was all that he wanted in his life, when he had moved to America he never thought that he would meet someone like Jemma, and when he did meet her, he never thought that he would come this far with her. Never thought that they would be more than friends, and even if Fitz hated change, he didn't mind this kind of change. The change that would make him happy. The change that meant he could be with Jemma, that he had a chance of knowing what it was like to kiss her, but of course he wanted to wait for a while before he kissed her. He didn't want things to happen too quickly and he didn't want to just kiss her and ruin everything between them. For now he was just happy that he had her.


	4. Chapter 4

They had been dating for a week, and it seemed like the entire school knew that Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz were a couple, mostly because they walked down the halls and sat in class holding hands, but a lot of people had just sussed it out themselves, the first one being a girl called Skye who had recently moved to the school.

"The first people that I heard about in this whole school was you two! You're the only kids here that are from Britain. It must have been amazing when you found each other and became friends." Skye told them, sitting up on the table the three of them had claimed in the canteen.

"It was amazing, just like her." Fitz replied kissing Jemma on the cheek, earning a small blush from her and a small giggle.

"Have you actually kissed properly yet?" Skye asked them with a raise of an eyebrow.

"Not yet. We will when the time is right though." Jemma answered, resting her head on Fitz's shoulder. "I want it to be somewhere special."

"You're both just hopeless romantic geeks aren't you?"

"There's no better way to be." Fitz grinned, earning an eye roll from Skye.

How they became friends with Skye, none of them would ever know. Skye was an outgoing, lively and very much of a party girl. The complete opposite to Fitz and Simmons who liked to stay home, helping each other with homework and watching 'Star Wars' which they were shocked and appalled to find out that Skye had never seen, maybe it was just the fact that Skye thought that they must be popular considering the whole school knew who they were, but then found out that they only spent time with each other, laughing and talking to each other. She sometimes heard them throw little insults at one another, but it was all fun and neither of them meant the insults and nicknames in a mean way. Skye thought that they were disgusting, but adorable the way that they were so lovey dovey with each other and always hugged. Always had the other by their side. They even took the exact same classes, and both of them were so useless in sport that they were in the mixed group that didn't even get graded for it, but they were advancing in science more than anyone else in their year group, or even the year group above. Skye was pretty sure that they were going to graduate early and get into college at the age of seventeen.

Toward the end of the day, Fitz was getting a little nervous and Jemma had noticed. His knee was shaking and he kept checking the time, not to mention the way his eyes widened whenever somebody mentioned prom. Him and Jemma hadn't even thought about it, and he didn't know if she would want to go or not, but he was desperate to ask her. Desperate to get one night with her where they could dance it away and be like a proper couple, even if he had two left feet and she could probably dance like an angel. Maybe he could let her teach him how to dance if she wanted to go.

At the end of the day, he walked her home from the bus as usual and before she went inside he took her hand and turned so that he was facing her.

"Fitz? Are you okay?"

"Jemma Simmons, I have a question to ask you."

"It's a little early in the relationship to propose isn't it?" She gave a small laugh but, stopped when she saw the serious expression on his face.

"I'm not proposing. I was thinking about prom…"

"You don't want to go?"

"No! I do want to go- this was meant to go differently. What I'm trying to ask is; will you go to prom with me?" He asked her with hopeful eyes watching her expression break into a grin as she practically jumped and threw her arms around him.

"I would love to go to prom with you! It would be amazing and romantic and Fitz, I didn't think you would even want to go! Is this why you've been acting nervous all day?"

"You noticed?"

"Of course I did."

"Then yeah, that's why I've been nervous all day."

"Oh Fitz…" Jemma giggled and with that she kissed him.

In all honesty he hadn't been expecting the kiss, but it was all he ever dreamed a first kiss with Jemma would be like. Her lips were so soft against his, and it felt like fireworks going off in his mind, he closed his eyes as he kissed back and wrapped his arms around her waist, but it was over sooner than he had hoped. He opened his eyes when he felt Jemma's lips leave his and watched her as she tried to hide a blush and looked at him with her big brown eyes.

"Wow…you're a really good kisser Fitz." She whispered.

"There are more kisses where that came from." He answered.

"I look forward to them." She told him, and kissed him once more quickly before turning away and going into her house, the fireworks in her mind still exploding as she let everything sink in. Prom. Her first kiss. It was all so perfect.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a long and strange day at the school and some classes were moved around to different places, which meant that Jemma had a free period when Fitz had a lesson. She wasn't completely alone though, she had Skye with her.

"So Jem, have you ever had a boyfriend before Fitz?" Skye asked raising an eyebrow.

"Skye..." Jemma sighed, she really didn't want to talk about her ex, but she knew that Skye wouldn't give up until she got an answer. "There was this one guy, Jessie..."

"Jessie?"

"Yes Jessie! He was sort of sweet at first, I really thought that he cared about me you know. He was my first boyfriend and I just really liked him. He was kind of a sporto though, so he was into fitness a lot!"

"So what happened?"

"He cheated on me." Jemma shrugged. "And then he moved to a different school, so thankfully I never have to see his face again."

"Oh Jemma! That's horrible. At least you have Leo now though, you two are cute together and I really think that you are going to last forever. I wish I could find someone who's perfect and loves me. You're so lucky Jemma!"

"Thanks Skye, and you will find someone I promise. You know I think that Ward guy kind of likes you. I see him staring at you sometimes and I think you two would be kind of cute together."

"You mean Grant? He's in my English class, and yeah I guess he's really good looking and I think he just needs someone to make him smile a little more."

"Why don't you ask him to prom?"

"Jemma. It's meant to be the guy asking the girl to prom, not the other way around."

"Change things up a little then, just ask him if he wants to go. I don't want you going alone, or not going at all."

"Well it's okay for you! You have Leo there with you for the whole night to slow dance until your feet fall off."

"Ask him."

"Okay. I'll ask him in English." Skye rolled her eyes and nudged Jemma just as the bell rang and Jemma looked up.

"I better go meet Fitz to get the bus home." She stood up and headed out of the school to meet with her boyfriend.

Once she met him outside, he took her hand and they got onto the bus together, sitting together for the journey home. Again they took their usual path, passing Jemma's house walking and laughing with each other until they reached her door.

"See you tomorrow Leo." She leaned up and kissed him softly.

"See you tomorrow Jem."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

He gave her one more quick kiss before walking back to his house, but his mood declined rapidly before he even got inside. All he could hear was his parents shouting at each other, and he really didn't want to hear it. They fought with each other almost every day now, and it normally ended with the slamming of the front door and Leo's father storming out, not coming back unti much later and sleeping on the couch, which scared Leo just a little, especially when he heard his name mentioned in the arguments.

He was scared to go inside. Scared to face them, but he had to. He had to go in, and when he walked in his parents fell silent, both of them turned to him. Both of them looking like they had something to tell him, and whatever it was it wouldn't be very good news.

"Leo. Sweetheart." His mum started, and Leo knew that was never a good thing. He knew that this tone of voice meant that she was about to tell him something that was going to upset him.

"Yeah?" He replied, trying not to show how scared he was by his own parents.

"You know that me and your father haven't been getting along, and that we've been fighting a lot more lately and it's not because of you sweetheart. We promise that it isn't because of you, you've done nothing wrong."

"Where is this going?"

"Leo. Your father and I are splitting up." She told him. "And you don't have to feel like you have to choose between the two of us, but your dad is going back to Scotland and I'm staying here. You can go back with him, and be with all of your old friends again, or you can stay here with me and be with your new friends."

"I-" Fitz couldn't believe what he was hearing. He couldn't choose between his parents, and what was even worse was that he was being forced to choose between going back to his old school with his old friends that he did kind of miss or Jemma. Jemma Simmons who was the best person to ever had entered his life. Jemma Simmons who he would do anything and more for. Jemma Simmons who his heart beat his undying love for.

"I'll stay here." He answered after a minute. "Can I go upstairs now?"

"Sure, and Leo if you need to talk then we're here for you."

"I know mum." He gave a faint smile, and ran upstairs to his room. He wanted to just throw everything on his desk down onto the floor, but there were a few things there that he could never risk destroying like, his laptop or his photo of him and Jemma together, both of them dressed in 'Star Wars' attire for a small Sci-Fi convention, him in what was meant to be a Han Solo costume and her in a Jedi robe with a battery powered lightsaber in her hand.

When Leo looked at the photo he knew that it was Jemma he should speak to and that he needed to see her. He threw his school bag down on his bed, and went over to his window, climbing out and running out of the garden, sneaking out of the estate and going towards Jemma's house.

Once he got to her door he knocked and waited until the door was opened, by Jemma's older brother Jasper. He didn't even need to ask why Fitz was there and just let the younger boy in, closing the door behind him.

"She's in her room." Jasper told Leo, who muttered a quick thanks and headed upstairs to Jemma's room, knocking softly on her bedroom door and hearing footsteps coming towards the door and once it was open he saw a very confused looking Jemma stood there staring at him.

"Fitz? What are you doing here?"

"I want to talk to you."

"Are you okay?" She asked him, pulling him into her room and closing the door. She took him over to the bed and held his hand waiting for him to start talking.

"It's my parents. They're- they're splitting up Jemma and my dads going back to Scotland. My mum is staying here though, and I'm living with her but, I don't know what to do. I don't want to hurt my dad." He took a shaky breath.

"Fitz. It's okay, your dad wont be hurt because you want to live here. He's still going to love you no matter where you both are, and so is your mum. Both of them love you so much Fitz, and I'm sure that you can still go and see your dad sometimes on holidays and things." She suggested.

"Yeah." He nodded, sniffling and letting a few tears fall which triggered Jemma to put her arms around him.

"Do you want to stay here tonight? My parents wont be here and Jasper is going out later." Jemma gave a small smile.

"Sure. I'd love to." He nodded, kissing her cheek. "I better text my mum though that I'm staying here."

"Good. I'm glad that I convinced you so easily." Jemma laughed and kissed him softly. "And yeah, you can text your mum." She sat back, removing her arms from him and waited for him to send a text.

"I'm guessing that we're going to be watching movies all night then?" Fitz asked.

"Yep! It's the best thing to do." Jemma grinned and at her words brought up Netflix and started the first movie, snuggling up close to Fitz and lying down on her bed with him.

"Thanks Jemma, you always know what to do to make me feel better." He whispered, kissing her forehead.


End file.
